This is the second season the dees have nested in the Gilbertson PVC box I placed next to the driveway. There are six eggs in the box and I only monitor about every 4-5 days-not lately, too wet and chilly.

I tap on the box and mom fusses at me from the closest branch. As soon as I leave, she goes back in the box. Of course, I talk to her the entire time and I actually believe she recognizes me by now.

If I had HOWRs, I would monitor more closely since the dees seem to prefer similar habitat. I put up plenty of nestboxes near vegetation to monitor HOWR dummy nests.

I monitor my Carolina Chickadees as often as I would my bluebirds. I've had them nesting for the 5th (or 6th??) straight year and they know me. I do knock and I try to monitor when I've seen momma leave but with the dees you can't tell momma from poppa so I have opened the box to find her there.

There are wrens in my area now and although I haven't seen or heard one I am keeping a very close eye on the dees. They are 16 and 17 days old now so I'm no longer monitoring and I figure that surely they are large enough to withstand a HOWR attack. They should be fledging any day now.

I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE hosting dees. My favorite cavity nester.

Hey Donna how well do you know your Dees? You are one of us crazy people so I bet you talk to them. I actually have conversations with mine. They will sit on the feeders
while I fill them. If they know you they are fine to monitor like your Blues.

Thanks everyone! Lisa, I do talk to the birds all the time and the Dees around here are never scared of us. They come right up to the feeders when we are filling them. We have more Dees in the Fall and Winter than we do in the summer months as they go off for nestbuilding. Thankfully this year this pair stayed. They are building in a box off our driveway in a little stand of about five trees, the box is out a bit from the trees, not right under them. The box is only about 20feet off the driveway and we were out on the driveway yesterday with some little boys riding their three wheelers all over the driveway and it didn't stop the Dees from their nestbuilding at all. This morning I was at the back of the garage and peeked around the corner at the house, then I looked up at a trailer next to me and there sat the Dee with a beakful of grass just staring back at me. She was only like six feet away from me, she then flew unconcerned to the nestbox. I just hope the dang wrens leave them alone. Of course the first thing I heard when I took the dogs out this morning was that awful wren song of at least two of them. Yep they are back, darn it!

Donna

Lisa and Donna, I find my dees to be much friendlier and more accepting of me than my bluebirds! Gotta love those little deedeedees!